by paul f renda
I’m sure most of us are very upset with what’s going on in Washington. Can we find a scientific way that could help us analyze what’s happening? I think an area of mathematics could help us out, and that area is called game theory. Specifically, I think the prisoner’s dilemma can give us some insight into what’s going on. In order to use this area mathematics first we have to consider the red states as Mr. Red and blue states as Mr. Blue. To make it even simpler, red states are capitalistic free enterprise, blue states are welfare entitlements states. Below I have copied From Wikipedia the prisoners’ dilemma—that is you have prisoners that will not cooperate even if it is in their best interest; what that probably means is gridlock. “The prisoners’ dilemma is a canonical example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so.” There is no optimistic out come from the prisoner dilemma.
What else can we learn from this? Possibly that the red states will siphon off jobs and wealth from the blue states over time. This would mean that the blue states would have more financial problems.
Is the global economic climate red or blue? If you look at the old Soviet bloc and the Berlin Wall, the direction is red. What about India and China—both of them becoming redder by the day? Their populations want the West’s middle class life style.
Greece is blue. I think if you consider Italy and France, no pun intended, but I think they are purple states. The United States under Obama is blue. What about the great socialist country Sweden? It was the poster-boy in the 1970s for the great socialist welfare state democracy. Below I have copied an article from the Economist—Sweden went from a blue state to red state and is becoming redder by the day.
“The Nordic countries are reinventing their model of capitalism”
“Sweden has reduced public spending as a proportion of GDP from 67% in 1993 to 49% today. It could soon have a smaller state than Britain. It has also cut the top marginal tax rate by 27 percentage points since 1983, to 57%, and scrapped a mare’s nest of taxes on property, gifts, wealth and inheritance. This year it is cutting the corporate-tax rate from 26.3% to 22%.”
If you read the rest of the article, you would believe that Sweden is the Tea Party on steroids
The world is moving toward red; essentially that means that the red-state countries will be pulling jobs and wealth from the blue states or countries. The social welfare state that was born right after World War II seems to be coming to an end. Does that mean the future is the tea party? I don’t know.
My big problem is that I have an autistic 26-year-old son that lives in a group home. He needs the welfare state for the next 50–60 years, but it looks like the current welfare state can only last another 10–20 years at the most.
(Note: if you want to meet the author of this article he performs with others at the Bodega monthly poetry and short story reading, on the first Sunday of every month. 24 Nicholas Ave., Brooklyn New York)